The Next Steve Jobs

Who Will Be The Next Steve Jobs?

Computers have to grow beyond their functions of mirroring the brain. Only a brilliant mind can see how that change is coming.

Apple is at a crossroads: At the left is failure by assimilation, and at the right, is a hill so steep, few could climb it. The leader who famously quoted Wayne Gretzky as saying “I don't skate where the puck is; I skate where it’s going to be” is gone. But in his now-famous Stanford graduation address, Steve Jobs left his Rosetta stone for Apple in an anecdote about learning calligraphy and how it shaped the creation of the first Macintosh, the machine that single-handedly revolutionized print-based media. It’s all about creativity.

We’re at a point now that other companies have clued into the use of typography, interface and industrial design, forcing Apple back into competing in nuts-and-bolt things like message notifications. So, creativity for Apple can’t just be about putting swashed lettering on their boxes. They will drown without the same visionary creative thinking that wasn’t so much out of the box as realizing there was no need for a box in the first place. These aren’t machines they’re making; they’re extensions of ourselves. Certain portions of computers mirror functions of the human brain — short-term memory (RAM), long-term memory (hard drive) and even the on/off states of binary computing have been discovered in the brain. But as brains grow bigger as the social demands of a species’ environment expands, computers have to grow beyond their functions of mirroring the brain. Only a brilliant mind can see how that change is coming.

The next Steve Jobs will be Jonathan Ive. There’s a reason his name is more familiar than that of CEO Tim Cook’s: He designed the engineering marvels that are the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and heat-dissipating unibody MacBook Pro. There’s no denying his unique creative vision. Let’s hope he can climb.